Green Living #5: Green Transportation
Many consumers are enthralled with the idea of driving a hybrid vehicle, one that runs on electricity as much as gas.
But other sustainable modes of transportation abound. Just check out this long list of land, sea and air vehicles that are all striving for more eco-friendly modes of transportation. Our favorites? The solar-powered ones of course!
Of course, some of these are a little over-the-top or not fully applicable (at least not yet). If one of these vehicles don’t appeal to you, then we hope you’ll think about walking or biking to your destinations instead of driving. You can help curb carbon emissions, and you’ll feel great doing it!
Conservation Is Key
Solar energy can take a long way to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources like oil. But one of the best ways to keep our energy consumption in check is to simply reduce the amount of energy we consume. Here are some tips to help you reduce your carbon footprint, use less energy, and help fight climate change. Every little step helps!
- In the winter, keep your thermostats at 68 degrees or lower. For each 1 degree you turn down the thermostat in the winter, you’ll save up to 5% on your heating costs.
- Turn off and un-plug non-essential lights and appliances. The electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than two average cars!
- Avoid running large appliances such as washers, dryers, and electric ovens during peak energy demand hours from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Close shades and blinds at night to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows. This also applies during the day for warm climates.
- Buy Energy Star appliances, products and lights.
Source: www.Earth911.com
Want more energy saving tips? Check out BGE’s Simple Steps to Saving Money.
Green Living: Recycling Electronics
In last month’s Green Living, we talked about recycling. This month, we’d like to focus specifically on recycling electronics, sometimes called “eClycling.”
In our gadget-filled world, people are buying more electronics than ever before, including cell phones, computers, laptops, TVs, DVD players—you name it. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, in 2005, discarded electronics totaled about 2 million tons. Only about 15 – 20 percent of it was recycled. These products, while certainly great to have and use, they contain toxic chemicals such as mercury and lead that can pollute the environment and cause contamination and serious health problems.
Fortunately, Maryland and DC offer eCycling programs that accept household electronics for recycling. These programs ensure that electronics are properly disposed off, rather than contaminating our environment.
You can read more about Maryland’s eCycling program at the Maryland Department of the Environment.
You can read more about DC’s eCycling program at the Department of Public Works.
Additionally, if you want your used electronics to go to a worthy cause, you may want to consider donating them. Often times, schools and nonprofits will accept these types of donations, so check with your favorite nonprofit to see if you can donate your old, unused electronics.
Back to Basics: Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC)
There are many factors that have made solar panels for your home more affordable in recent years, but Solar Renewable Energy Credits, or SRECs, are possibly one of the most important.
So what are they? Think of them like a stock. One SREC represents the monetary value of 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) produced. That value changes every day based on how much energy is produced across the state, how much energy is being used, and what portion of that energy comes from renewable resources (which includes wind power generation, geothermal, biomass, etc.).
In an effort to combat the effects of climate change and dependency on foreign oil, federal, state and local governments require utilities to have a certain percentage of their energy produced from renewable resources. In Maryland, utilities are required to have 15% of all electricity generated to come from renewable energy sources by 2022, of which 2% must come from solar power. Those percentages are phased in over time, which means that each year utilities must either produce that energy themselves or purchase energy credits.
And that’s where the value of SRECs is determined. It is easier and less expensive for utilities to purchase credits than to build new energy production facilities. The less energy they produce from solar and other renewable, the greater the value of the SRECs. And as energy demand continues to grow, the value of those SRECs will also continue to grow. That means that the longer you keep your SRECs, the more valuable they will be.
How many SRECs your system earns each year will entirely be based on the size of the system. When we do a solar analysis, we help you calculate what the cost/benefit is, taking into account the SRECs your solar panel system will earn.
Take note: a solar thermal system (also known as solar hot water) does not earn SRECs! They can, however, help you dramatically lower your utility bills.
Also note: SRECs are not the same as net metering, which requires utility companies to give solar electricity owners a credit if their system generates more electricity than is supplied by the grid.
Prince Georges County Homeowner Reduces Carbon Footprint and Saves Cash
One of the systems we’re particularly proud of is a unique ground install in Bowie, MD. The Blackwells, the family who hired Solar Energy World, were facing a rather steep $7,550 annual electricity bill.
The Blackwell’s are the owners of a large single-family home built in 2006 in Bowie, Maryland. The two-story home sits upon an approximate 40,000 square foot lot. So, with available space, the Blackwell’s explored the use of ground mounted solar panels to reduce their energy costs.
Our solar analysis showed that the Blackwells that it pays to go solar. The family opted for a 10.32kW solar electric system that includes 48 – 215 watt ground mounted panels. After the federal tax credit, state grant and local property tax credits, the Blackwell’s expect their solar panel system to cost nearly 50% off of the total installation cost.
In addition to the government incentives, the Blackwell’s will be saving $2,471 per year on their electricity bills and earning $4,435 per year by selling their Solar Renewable Energy Credits; making their ground mounted solar electric system pay back in less than 6 years.
We also installed an Enphase monitoring system along with the solar panels. The monitoring system showed that in just the first 10-days of operation, the system produced 505 kilowatt hours; which could power 1,529 light bulbs, 505 computers and 15 homes for one day.
Powering up the Blackwell’s solar panel system also reduced their carbon footprint, with a carbon offset of 865lbs. Within the same 10-day period the offset equivalent of planting 10 trees, not consuming 45 gallons of gas, and not driving 26 cars for a day.
Not only that, but they look amazing. Check out these other pictures of the solar system or read the solar case study.
Green Living: Recycling
Out of all the things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, recycling is among the most powerful and easy to do. According to Sustainablog.org, the U.S. only earned a C for recycling. Here are some interesting statistics:
- 251 million – tons of trash in the United States
- 82 million – tons of materials recycled in the United States
- 53.4 – percentage of all paper products recycled in the United States
- 32.5 – percentage of total waste that is recycled in the United States
- 100 – approximate percentage of increase in total recycling in the United States during the past decade
- 8,660 – number of curbside recycling programs in the United States in 2006
- 8,875 – number of curbside recycling programs in the United States in 2003
- 6 – weeks it takes to manufacture, fill, sell, recycle and re-manufacture an aluminum beverage can
- 95 – percentage of energy saved by recycling an aluminum can, compared with manufacturing a new one
- 4.6 – pounds of trash per person per day in the United States (most in the world)
- 1.5 – pounds of recycled materials per person per day in the United States
Here in Maryland, residents and businesses recycled more than 44 percent of solid waste in 2007, and we’re sure those numbers are much higher today with the growing number of single-stream recycling programs sprouting up over the state.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has a useful tool for finding recycling programs, as well as links to other useful recycling resources.
40 Environmental Facts
In celebration of Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, we’ve list 40 interesting and alarming environmental facts. We’ve posted these facts every day for the past 40 days – thanks for listening and sharing with others!
- Approximately 20 million people across the United States celebrated the first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970. Today, more than 1 billion people around the world take part in the event.
- In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full.
- Each person throws away approximately 4 pounds of garbage per day.
- Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each year ends up in the ocean.
- The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours
- In, 1931, Albert Einstein, collected a Nobel Prize for is work in solar and photovoltaic experimentation.
- Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, 4,100 kilowatts of energy, 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space and 60 pounds of air pollution.
- 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year
- 84% of all household waste can be recycled
- More than 1/3 of all energy is used by people at home
- Most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year
- Everyday in the United States, we produce enough trash to equal the weight of the Empire State Building
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a swirling vortex of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean. This area is twice the size of the continental US and is believed to hold almost 100 million tons of garbage.
- The human population has grown more in the last 50 years than it did in the previous 4 million years
- John Herschel, a British astronomer, converted solar power by using a solar collector box to cook food while on an African expedition, in 1830.
- In some elementary schools, after Halloween and Christmas, Earth Day is the third largest celebrated holiday
- One in four mammals is at risk of extinction – 78% of marine mammals are threatened by accidental deaths such as getting caught in fishing nets intended for other species.
- At least 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year, totaling an area the size of England, Wales and Scotland combined.
- Average temperatures will increase by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at the current pace.
- If the entire world lived like the average American, we’d need 5 planets to provide enough resources.
- A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.
- In one hour more sunlight falls on the earth than what is used by the entire population in one year.
- April 22 is the first official day of Spring in the Northern hemisphere and of Fall in the Southern hemisphere and was chosen to be Earth Day for this reason
- More than 20,000,000 Hershey’s Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.
- Only 11% of the earth’s surface is used to grow food.
- If every newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year. Unfortunately only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.
- A highlight of the annual Earth Day ceremony at the United Nations is the ringing of the Peace Bell that was given to the UN by Japan. It is made from coins given by school children to further peace on our planet.
- By using renewable energy sources to provide your daily energy needs we can decease CO2 emissions with 20,000 pounds less of carbon dioxide each year, including 50 pounds of nitrogen oxide less, and 70 pounds of less sulfur dioxide omitted into our atmosphere.
- Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months.
- The U.S. is 5% of the world’s population but uses 25% of its natural resources. We use one million gallons of oil every two minutes.
- More than 100 million Americans live in urban areas where the air is officially classified by the EPA as unsafe to breathe.
- The US has less than 4% of its forests left.
- 40% of our waterways are undrinkable.
- 200,000 people a day are moving to cities from environments that no longer support them.
- According to the National Academy of Sciences, on average there are 27 oil spills every day somewhere in the waters of the worlds
- Residential lawns and gardens are doused with 80 million pounds of chemical pesticides and 70 million tons of fertilizers annually.
- It would cost about $13 billion annually to satisfy the world’s basic sanitation and food requirements. That’s roughly equivalent to what Americans and Europeans spend on perfume and cologne every year.
- Each year Americans alone throw away 18 billion disposable diapers. In perspective, this is enough to extend from the earth to the moon and back 7 times.
- Ford Motor Company indicates that 75% of every vehicle is recyclable.
- In 1 year, the earth will travel 1.6 million miles in its annual journey around the Sun, the 4.6-billionth such round-trip. It will rotate about its axis exactly once.
Sources: WebEcoist, PlanetPals, History.com, Yumsugar.com, Stumblerz.com, Daily Green, Gree.Autoblog.com
Three Reasons to Eat Locally Grown Food
As we mentioned in our first post, one of the things we want to use this blog for is promoting all the actions—big and small—that each of us can take make the world a greener planet. That’s why we’re introducing this monthly feature called Green Living. Each month, we’ll focus on a single tip you can do to live your life more greenly, and leave a smaller footprint behind.
This month, we’ll focus on buying and eating food that is grown locally. Here are three reasons you should start today:
- The impact on the environment: According to studies conducted at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the average fresh food travels 1,500 miles to reach our dinner tables. Buying local reduces or eliminates the climate-changing carbon emissions that occur as a result of their transport.
- The impact on the local economy: When you eat locally produced food, you support local farmers. When you purchase fresh food at your grocery store, the farmer who grew it (1,500 miles away, mind you), only sees a portion of the financial benefit of your purchase. But when you buy locally grown food, the farmer generally sees 100% of the financial benefit. In turn, the local stays in business, pays local taxes, spends money on other local businesses, etc.
- The impact on your health: There’s really no better reason to eat locally. Think of all the processed foods we eat, day in and day out. It’s no wonder why almost 35 percent of adults in the U.S. are considered obese. Eating locally means eating natural, organic foods that are easier for your body to process and can promote healthier bodies.
Here are some good links to various eating local resources to get you started:
Maryland Department of Agriculture 2010 Farmer’s Market Directory
Where can you put solar panels?
“In the sun!” someone joked at one of our recent solar workshops. Yes, that might be the obvious answer, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
It actually depends on the type of system you want installed. Solar electric systems require light, while solar thermal systems require heat.
Generally, solar panels can be mounted on your roof, as long as the roof is southerly facing and does not have any shade from trees. This will ensure that your panels receive the maximum amount of sunlight throughout the year.
Other places to put solar panels include your garage (if it’s a separate structure), or perhaps a part of your yard that consistently receives sunlight. There are also ground mount and pole mount options.
Here are some photos of recent solar panel installations we’ve done.
Back to Basics: How Solar Panels Work
Before we get into the nitty gritty of solar energy, we thought it’d be a good idea to take a post or two to ensure that we’re all on the same page when it comes to solar panels and the products you might find. There’s a lot of information out there, some good, some not so good. We think it’s important that you have the clearest information handy.
That’s why our first series of blog posts is called, “Back to Basics.” In this series, we’ll be talking about some of the more fundamental aspects of solar energy—how it works, how they get installed, the different types of solar panels, Solar Renewable Energy Credits and other financial incentives, and more.
Let’s dive right in.
Solar panels take sunlight and convert it into energy that can be used to power your house or heat your water.
There are two basic kinds of systems: Photovoltaic or PV, also called solar electric, uses sunlight to generate electricity. It’s the same technology found on pocket calculators, just on a larger scale. PV systems can be designed to generate the majority of the electricity used in your home, or just a portion of it.
Thermal solar uses sunlight to heat water. Typically this is used for a home’s hot-water supply. A well-designed thermal system can be extremely effective, and provide most of the hot water used in your home.
Both solar energy systems let you do your part towards reducing greenhouse gases and improving the environment.
So, how do they work?
Solar photovoltaics consist of units of silicon cells that are placed under glass. When sunlight hits the panel, a molecular reaction takes places in the silicon, causing the PV cells emit energy which is then collected by a circuit that transforms that energy into an electric current. The current then travels down into a piece of equipment known as an inverter, which makes the current usable in your household.
A solar thermal system also uses sunlight, but in a very different way. Solar thermal systems, also often called solar hot water systems, capture the sun’s radiation using a solar collector and then heats hot water with it. Instead of using PV cells, these panels use copper coils that contain glycol, a non-toxic liquid. As the glycol heats up, it moves into a piece of equipment called a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat of the glycol to the water, which is then stored in a tank. The glycol then moves back into the panel through the copper coils, never having come into contact with your water supply. The hot water generated by these systems are ideal for washing and bathing.
So there you have it. Feeling smart about solar? Why don’t you take our quiz to see how smart you might be!